WithIn Night's Temptation
by SilverBellsofNite
Summary: Set after the Avengers. Thor takes Loki home. The Court, Odin, and Thor fight over how Loki should be punished; they keep him in jail. Odin takes Loki's powers away, no one trusts him. However, while in jail, Loki meets someone, someone just like him. The two pass their time in jail together. This is that story. Better summary inside, RxR please! I promise that it will get better!
1. Author Note

Summary: Set after the Avengers. Thor takes Loki home. While the Elder Court, Odin, and Thor decide-fight-over how Loki should be punished, they keep him in jail. Of course Odin has to take his powers away but the Court still does not think that Loki is safe. No one is foolish enough to trust him. They still love him which only further complicates the situation.

However, while in jail, Loki meets someone, someone just like him. The two pass their time in jail together. This is that story.  
RxR, I promise it will get better (reviewing would help)!

A/N:  
1) Nothing belongs to me, it belongs to Marvel and whoever else holds the rights to the copyright. I don't receive any profit from this. Ziltch.

2) This obviously isn't the first chapter and for that I apologize but I would like to make a few statements first before this story begins.

I have been writing fanfiction for quite some time but I have never posted any until now. I have not read all of the comics and the little that I have read is not very helpful. This story will be heavily movie based with a dash of mythology. I WILL be taking huge liberties with this story. I apologize in advance for any OCCness and whatnot. I will try my best but all I can do is try.

This was not my intended first story to publish. I have another story written for the specific purpose of giving me time to adjust to the publishing and managing and uploading controls. However, this that is not going to happen tonight. If I make any horrible mistakes, like uploading several chapters at once, too many weird line breaks, or the wrong story, I apologize in advance.

I am excited to get this published and out on FFN so this will be sloppy. Again, I apologize, I am excited and hyped up on plot bunny anxiousness for reviews. My story hasn't even been published yet and I'm already anxious for reviews and pained at not having them. I have issues. I desperately need sleep. Dx

I had more to say but I have forgotten. Keep an eye on future A/N for a continuation I guess.

[ and 3) Thank God for spell check and betas (even if I don't have a beta).]  
[and having said #3, all mistakes are my own. Please point them out for me!]

4) I write for me, because I love to write and it brings me happiness, and no one else. If others find my work amusing or greatly entertaining and they too find pleasure by reading, it is just a bonus that comes with the job. I do not care if you flame me or try to tear me down. Some flames can be very helpful, even if phrased cruelly. I do prefer constructive criticism but I can and will deal with flamers.

Flamers gonna Flame.


	2. The Actual First Chapter

*~*CHAPTER !*~*

Neither of the brothers were expecting the type of welcome that they received. Once the Tesseract (aka The Cosmic [Cube]) had brought the two princes home, they were greeted with open arms. Literally. Frigga nearly knocked her sons over as she ran into them. Her next mission was to pry Loki away from the container the Tesseract was in and pull him into a near bone crushing hug. She was weeping. That tore at his heart, deep down as he buried his feelings.

Then she pulled back and slap him across the face. "Loki Laufey-Odinson, do you have any idea what you put me through? What type of a living hell it's been?" She pulled him in for a hug once more, "My son, I have missed you so much! I love you so much! Do not ever do that again, please my son, my love, don't do that to me again. I would die if I lost you."

Loki was too shocked to move. She hugged him, slapped him, chastised him, and hugged him again. He had expected to be scorned, hated, a disappointment, and then slapped by his mother. Instead, she still loved him? She was crying for him, her tears soaked into his tunic. He twisted his hands to pat her back, with the chains and her crushing his arms to his side it was all he could manage, in a daze. Even if the muzzle hadn't been on, he would have been at a loss for words. His mother, who hadn't given birth to him he reminded himself, still loved him? Too quickly, Frigga was pulled away from her youngest son, tears poured down her face. She patted Thor's arm before being led away from the two by Sif. Sif looked them both over but paid closer attention to Thor and gave him a nod before leaving. The Warriors Three looked at the princes. They were glad that both Asgardians had returned safely but they had mixed feeling about the prince who had tried to destroy Jotunheim and Midgar. They mourned the loss of their childhood friend when he was believed dead, but they also despised the evil that had taken root in him and felt no loss there. They missed their Loki but not the thing that he had become.

They could see the madness that resided in his eyes.

Odin beckoned Thor and Loki to follow him. There were guards all around but that was to be expected. Once away from the public eye, Odin turned and clasped Loki on the shoulders and kissed both cheeks before he hugged his youngest son. "My son, welcome home. This is for the part of you that understands, that can still hear me. I love you, I am thrilled and overwhelmed that you are finally home. I am so sorry for my transgressions. I should have told you sooner, but I didn't want you to feel out of place. That backfired on me though did it not? You still felt like you did not belong. I am sorry for not understanding sooner. For not seeing and acting upon it earlier. I was a fool. Please forgive me my son.

"Now for the logical part of your brain, or what might be in control now. You know that you have done a crime and that that crime must be punished. We do not know how to correctly punish you; discussions are still in process. I will not allow you to be defiled and I will do my best to keep you from being tortured but I can only do my best. My power will only reach so far and you have nearly caused us two wars with separate worlds. Your punishment is still being voted on, until then, you will remain in the dungeons, chained as you are now.

"Do you understand?" Odin questioned squeezing his sons shoulder's. Loki heard all the words but they had not hit him yet. He understood that he was going to sit in prison until his punishment had been decided; he nodded. "My son, I regret this but I must take your powers from you, as a precaution. I do not believe you to be a threat, these cuffs will prevent you from casting, but the elders and the people would feel better. They know that you are smart and resourceful. They do not believe that we can contain you," Odin made taking Loki's powers as painless as he could before leading them onwards to the dungeons. There were several prisons, one specifically held those to be tortured, another was a simple holding cell for minor disturbances (drunken loudness, drunken violence, other similar things. They were usually held overnight or for a few days before released), and then there were the prisons that were made for the long term prisoners. As much as the Elders had disagreed, Loki was being placed in long term confinement under maximum security and isolation.

Their journey was uneventful. That is, until they began walking closer to the maximum security chamber. Suddenly and hand shot out and grasped Odin's cloak sleeve. "Odin!" the raspy, rarely used voice, tore through a dry throat, "You promised! Explain!" The cell was shrouded in darkness but all could see that the arm grabbing Odin was blue.

Frost Giant blue.

"Father!" Thor screamed throwing Loki against the opposite wall and grasping the blue hand. It refused to let go.

"Thor!" Odin called him off with a wave and gently pried the fingers away. The arm and hand fell limply away from them and slid back into the cell.

"Father who is that? Why are they in the dark? Is it a Frost Giant?" Thor questioned. Loki had righted himself and stepped closer. Odin sighed heavily before walking to a pillar in the wall near the door of the cell.

"I should tell you both now, you will find out eventually. Yes, she is a Frost Giant. However, take a look for yourselves," Odin pushed a button and instantly light flooded the cell. On the floor near the front, grasping to bars, there lay a dehydrated, emaciated female Frost Giant, only she was far too small for a Frost Giant. The woman looked up with her red eyes glowing slightly before hauling herself to standing. She did not even reach Thor's shoulder, she barely reached the bottom of his solar plexus. Her hair was a pale blue, lighter than her skin (which was even lighter than a normal Frost Giant's color) with just a dust of snow-grey color to it. Her skin was hard to describe, somewhere between blue and sky blue, near the lighter end, but not a pale sky blue. One thing was clear though, she was not the typical Frost Giant. The runes were missing from her skin as well. The scars were not.

"Go on," she goaded Thor but her voice was leaving her, "laugh. Point and laugh, I do not care. Why should I care about the opinion of a spoiled brat who claims to be king? Who attacked us? You attacked us! Everything I did was justified! It was war! I stopped once a new treaty was made, don't you know I stopped? Why am I here?" she roared shaking the bars. The only damage she did was to herself, she banged her head against the bars several times before letting go and pacing the cell.

"Please," Odin said, "stop this. Don't you see what you are doing to yourself? You are here for your own safety, but you are still our guest."

"Guest?" she stopped abruptly and stalked towards him, "Guest?" she sneered. "Since when does the hospitable Asgard treat their guest as slaves? A prisoner is bad enough but this is despicable! Me, your guest? What a farce! I demand that you return me to my people! I have done nothing wrong!"

"Are you not getting at least three meals a day? Are you not being brought water? Are you not allowed to shower or bath? Are you not allowed a change of clothes?"

"Am I not in prison?" she retorted, "Old man," she gripped the bars and brought her face closer, "if I were truly your guest and kept here for my own safety, you would have furnished the cell with a proper bed, a more private bathroom, I would be in control of the lights, there would be a curtain or something to hide the world, and I would not be treated this way!"

"The elders are to blame for your lack of hospitality," Odin insisted.

"I do not care," she laughed cruelly backing away from the bars and gesturing, "I do not have them, therefore I am a prisoner under the guise of a guest. I have nothing and your guards are cruel against your orders but not against the orders of your precious Elder Council. I grow tired and weary of these games that need not be played. No answers will be yielded because there are no answers to yield!

"If I am to be tortured for something, I would know the reason and be in the proper prison instead of this place."

Odin looked at her with pity and sadness. A tray of food, though not much, lay untouched in the corner. Only the goblet of water was gone. She saw his gaze but said nothing. "Why do you choose to starve yourself?"

"You mean why do I choose to live? I ate your food until I became sick from it. I nearly died and no one cared. I was poisoned and no one came to tend to me. Is that how you treat a guest? Poison them and leave them to die? I fought so hard for my life. I stopped eating after that. I would stop drinking too if I knew that I could live otherwise," she began pacing again. Her bare feet were bleeding from gashes along the bottom.

"How did-"

"Tortured, remember Odin?" she motioned to herself while smiling cruelly, "They do a wonderful job too. If I had what they wanted, I would have told them, pathetic little ants. They will die if they touch me again Odin. Mark my words, then I truly will have a reason to be in here. Your guest, bah!"

Odin watched her for a moment and was lost in thought, so much so that he didn't realize that she had drawn close to the bars again. Ever so slowly, Thor watched in horror as she stuck a clawed hand out and rested her nail on his father's golden eye patch. Words were not exchanged but she waited until he returned to the present. She knew he had because he backed away.

"You," she spoke carefully, evenly, without any sign of emotions seeping through, "promised." It was a reminder before she retreated to a corner and sat down. More of her wounds were bleeding but she refused to take care of them in the presence of others. Thor and Loki watched, waiting for Odin to continue to lead them to Loki's cell. Odin turned away from the girl and the cell but hesitated near the light switch. He debated leaving them on.

"I did promise. I do not think that you are ready to hear it yet, so I shall wait a little while longer," Odin continued down the hall. They were nearly to the door that lead to the high security cells and eventually to maximum security.

"You mean like how you allowed your son to find out his true heritage? On his own?" Her sweet, soft, taunting voice floated to them and gently caressed their ears but it also made all three men freeze. Odin spun around with wide eyes.

"Who told you this information?" He demanded. She did not answer. "As your King, I demand that you tell me who gave you that information," he hissed threateningly. It was truly frightening. That tone made entire races stop and think.

"Ah, so I am your slave, subject to Asgardian rule now," she mused to herself. She was unafraid of Odin. "No one told me King Odin, I see it. I smell it. The Kindred Spirit, he and I are the same. He would have said it too had you not had that gag on him."

"The two of you are nothing alike," Thor interject.

"Oh?" she sounded sincerely surprised, "Is that right? You must tell me how we differ, because our heritage is the same."

"Loki is-" Odin had heard enough. He opened the next door and pushed his sons through, effectively cutting Thor off. The three continued on to maximum security without further incident. Even though it was Loki's punishment, it pained Thor and Odin to have to place him in solitary confinement, in near sense deprivation for he would have no light or sound reach him save for his own voice. Even that had been stripped from him. They each gave him a final hug, a kiss, an 'I love you,' and a goodbye before closing the door.

The light of the hall way, a pale blue mixed with red causing it to appear purple, slowly creeped over Loki's form. He sat on the bench against the back wall, for a moment he was brought out of his shock to see his father and brother both crying for him as the door closed. He took a quick look around to get his bearings before the door and the light was completely gone from him.


	3. Ch2 Terror of the Mind at Night

*~*CHAPTER *~*

He was unsure how long he had been there. It could have been only hours, maybe days. More than likely a few weeks but it could have been a month or two. Time passed differently in Maximum Security. There was an ancient spell to keep the person inside alive and well nourished, but they would still need physical sustenance. Loki had not bothered to count his meals. One day the door opened and the bright white light blinded him. Loki squeezed his eyes shut but he felt a guard grab his arm and lead him outside. He forced his eyes open and to adjust, though he blinked much. They passed the other maximum security cells and even passed the entry door. He was being transferred to the 'Heavy Security' part of the prison.

Loki was shocked but he said nothing, as if he could with the gag still in place. When they reached his new cell, so did someone else. He recognized the female prisoner instantly, how many small female Frost Giants could there be in the prison, in the universe? Her eyes were trained on the floor in front of her as she was half dragged, half carried down the hall. It shocked Loki to realize that she was being transferred to a higher security than she had been in when he met her. Surely she couldn't be heading to maximum security? Would they take him out just to throw her in? Was she that dangerous.

"Hold on," one of the guards holding the Prince said, "what are you doing?"

"Transferring this one to her new cell in High Security, this cell here," he gestured to the empty cell across from Loki's new cell. "Why?"

"I was told that no one was to be around the Prince. That was why this cell was chosen."

"I was told something similar. Who are your orders from? Do you have the papers?" The two speaking guards left their prisoner with their partner and exchanged note in the "middle ground" between the two. The giantess leaned against the bars in boredom and for support. Loki watched her as she studied something that he could not see.

After several minutes of talking the guards concluded that there must be some mistake and that they should go ask just to be positive that their orders were correct. They did not wish to be blamed for the escape should the two Frost Giants join forces. They were tempted to leave the prisoners chained to the bars outside the cells, but then thought better of it. Why would they even be tempted to at all? That was not how they were trained. Each cell was unlocked and the prisoner guided inside. The giantess carefully lowered herself to the floor before her cuffs were even off. That was a hard feat alone due to her hand being cuffed behind her. Once the cuffs were removed she laid down on the floor and did not move. Loki stood in the middle of his cell and watched the guards. He was aware that his gaze made the guards uneasy; he found great pleasure in it. Even with his cuffs and gag, which would not be removed, he still caused people to cower before him. The four guards left once the made sure the doors had indeed locked.

Once the door leading to the medium security shut and locked behind the guards, they breathed a sigh of relief. The moment that each group had taken their Frost giant into custody and moved them had been horrific. They had to be extra sharp and vigilant. No mistakes could be made. Even if they had to come back and move them, for now the guards were happy to be rid of the Giants. Even if they were small for their breed.

Once the guards had left, Loki approached the bars that held him. He would not be able to break them with brute strength, not entirely unaided anyway. Perhaps if he worked on them for half a century or more, maybe he could, but Loki did not plan on staying in prison that long. However, he did not have any immediate plans to leave either. He looked to the giantess in her cell. She remained unmoving; he had to focus his sight on her side and wait patiently to see her chest expand and fall slightly. For a moment, he thought that she might have died.

He opened his mouth to speak, or tried to, he had forgotten about the gag. With a roll of his eyes, he figured that he'd sit back and wait. Until she looked at him, he had no way of communicating with her. It shocked Loki to find that he wanted to talk to her. Perhaps he just wanted to know what growing up with Frost Giants had been like. She was so much smaller than he, yet she survived that harsh wasteland. Could he have survived too? There were so many questions that he wanted to ask but he could wait. He had to wait, even if he got her attention and they made some type of communication, she would have to guess the question and then answer it.

It would be like playing the Midgar game of charades. He wasn't sure that he'd like it.

She did not move the rest of the night. No one came back to move them so they remained in their new cells. Eventually Loki sat down on the bed, the sad excuse that it was, but it was a bed nonetheless. The next few days passed in similar fashions. Food was brought to them, it was the only time Loki's gag was removed but he knew better than to speak around the antsy guards who would surely strike him. She refused to eat but she would drink. Loki was unsure how she did it since she never moved (he and the guards were perplexed, to point where the guards would ask Loki if he'd seen her move to which he would shake his head and shrug) but the glass would arrive full and leave empty. Loki ate whatever was given to him, even it did end up tasting horrible. He understood that he had to keep his strength up, his meals could stop at any moment.

She on the other hand, his female Jotunheim half, as he had taken to calling her in his own thoughts (he did not know her name, even if he did, he would make up some other name for her), ate absolutely nothing. Her meals, however, were not under the threat of leaving her. If what Odin had said was true, she was a guest. Loki, as loath as he was to admit, could understand why she was being kept in the prisons. The people of Asgard were scared of the Frost Giants. He certainly had not helped that situation. If she were to stay in Asgard under anything else other than an ambassador of peace, it would be safer for her in the prisons. Young, rambunctious, stupid warriors in training would not take lightly to a Frost Giant walking their golden paved streets freely. Harm would come to her.

The question was, what was she doing in Asgard? Could she be a guest? There was far more to the story. It peeked his interest.

The strange routine had surrounded them all and it was a strange comfort. The guards tried to get her to eat, occasionally they were ordered to force feed her, which could be an entertaining sight or sadly pathetic. Sometimes she would fight them, food would go everywhere, some even ending up on Loki, but some always ended up on the guards if not down his armor. She was a spitfire of a thing, quick, sharp, vigilant, violent-even in her weakened state, she could hold her own against a male guard three times her size and weight. Loki wondered if it had something to do with her water intake. Other times though, the guards would have to move her limp body from the fetal position on the floor, to rest either against the bed or on it, or to sit in the chair in the opposite corner of the room. The girl was alive but you would not have known it. After placing her body somewhere upright, they would pick around on her plate until they found something small enough to go down easily but of the appropriate size so she wouldn't choke. That had happened once, her choking, it was almost comedic after the fact, but while it was happening, Loki had felt a twinge of panic. If she died, he'd never get any of his answers. She could not die until he had gotten his answers.

Thankfully, her life being in immediate danger seemed to rouse her enough for the guards to notice that she was choking. There was a struggle, she refused to let them touch her and went ballistic when the guard in her cell managed to get behind her enough to wrap his arms around her torso.

If she had had the air to do what her face conveyed, Loki was positive that her scream would not only have carried to the other prisons, perhaps even out side, but that it would have shattered something (whether it be bone or crystal-glass, he did not know).

That was when the other guard stepped in, however, she slipped past them and into the hall. Technically, she was a free woman. The struggle, lack of oxygen, and what he was sure the inability to see, forced her to her knees. The guards took their only chance and performed the Heimlich maneuver as they were trained. They moved back inside the cell while she was replenishing her depleted oxygen supply. A final once over assured them that she was in no way near death now. With everyone relived, they offered to let her feed herself but she knocked the tray away and kicked the guard over to roll on his backside. After her outburst, which had Loki laughing to himself and a smile on his face behind the gag, she returned to the still unresponsive figure she that she was. Only Loki had the trained eye to see the subtly differences but he kept them all to himself.

After that little incident, the guards had been more careful when force feeding her. Her meals were never under threat of leaving her or suddenly stopping, something he found himself a tad jealous of, yet she refused them. It was another question he wanted answered. Loki made a mental list, had he had parchment or even the appropriate writing tools he would have written them down but sadly he did not, of the questioned that he wished to ask her. They were ever under revision, for the lie-smith knew how to phrase his words. He still had his silver-tongue after all, that was something that they could never take away from him.

Short of cutting the appendage from his mouth.

Only when everyone was comfortable in their routine did it change. It started weeks prior to the catalytic event but only Loki would be able to deduce the proper time line, and only moments before she told him many months after the event.

It started with sounds coming from her cell. They were small sounds, a sharp intake of breath, the sound or a breath being held as muscles clenched, and the soft restrained release of said held breath, were the first sounds heard. The shuffling should have been the second indicator. She rarely, if ever, moved but when she did she was perfectly silent. She was not known for sound as she stood up, the hiss of pain that tore away from her, or the grunt as she not only fell against the bars of the cell but the wall. Another indicator should have been the sounds she made at night. The sounds had roused Loki from slumber before but he thought nothing of it before returning to the realm of dreams.

These signs of course were spread out over a week, perhaps two, before the actual event. The Cell Event, the first anyway, happened in the middle of the night, during the guard changes. Loki had been deeply submerged in a long awaited and much needed soul and body healing sleep. He was rudely brought out of his self healing state. His instincts screamed at him. There was danger! Protect! Fight! Briefly, he asked himself, "Protect what?" he was answered but he did not receive the transmission. He chose not to, he did not like the answer.

Across the hall, in her cell, the female Frost Giant was screaming. The scream was not one brought on by nightmares. It was the scream of torture, of something breaking.

Loki knew that scream well, he had made it himself on more than one occasion.

The guards arrived twenty minutes after it first began. There was a new moon out that night, until the torches had been lit, Loki had been left with the sounds of screaming thrashing, and tearing. Light flooded the cell and the hallway. Loki wanted to close his eyes against what he saw. The god of mischief had seen far worse but it still pained him to see the blue skin, that he shared under his Aesir facade, being clawed at by its own fingers and nails. Blood, not quite red but there wasn't a color to call it, covered her body, it flowed from every cut. Loki watched as for once, the guards struggled to open the door. She continued to scream and writhe. Her body would arch so far that Loki was sure her spine would snap if it hadn't already, before slamming into the ground. It would repeat or she would slam her own head against the wall, the bars, the foot of her bed, anything that was near. Blood poured from gashes in her head as well.

It was a truly horrific sight, difficult to explain, nearly impossible to accurately recount. Loki wanted it to stop. He needed it to stop. Hearing her scream, seeing her writhe, it reminded him of his own tortures at the hands of the Chitauri. He did not wish to be reminded of them and she was doing nothing but reminding him.

He wanted to scream as well. If she would only be quite! It would not be enough he knew. He could still see her. He would still be reminded of what they did to him. How they forced his body to bend in an eerily familiar fashion to how hers was bending now. The guards finally pried the door open and rushed to restrain her. His female giantess counterpart was not fighting the Asgardian guards but that did not stop her from fighting enemies that were visible on to her eyes. Her flailing limbs caught them with a force they had not expected from her. They thought that during their previous struggles with the girl she had been using the full capacity of her strength. The guards were only able to manage having two, possibly three, limbs constrained at one time. Even with two more guards, the total of four were unable to keep her still, rouse her from what they believed to be a horrible nightmare, or keep her from further harming herself or themselves.

Suddenly, the screams stopped. Her body froze in one of her back-bending breaks, all of her weight was on the junction of her neck and the tips of her toes. Her head rolled towards Loki's cell. Her eyes were open, any thoughts (and slight hopes) that she was having a "nightmare" vanished when her eyes locked with his own. Her eyes saw nothing though, her conscious was not present in her own mind. She was coming back however and her eyes were quavering inside their sockets in fear. Her mouth gasped for air that refused to be brought into her lungs. Loki knew precisely what she was going through.

Her next move shocked him though. She had the strength to do something that he never could. The Giantess forced the presence from her mind. They might have invaded her mind when they pleased, but they were not leaving according to schedule. They had a premature launch. Loki watched as her deep within her eyes her fighting spirit sparked to life. Righteous anger rose in combination with confidence and a power that he had not known anyone to posses. She took possession of her body back and slammed it into the ground before curling in on herself, tearing her limbs away from the guards, before letting out a battle cry.

The battle cry sounded throughout Asgard, everyone heard it but only those in the prisoner's hall audibly heard it. Loki recognized the fight that was going on within her mind. Loki could see every play, every maneuver, as if it were his own mind. He watched and silently cheered her own, he wished to lend her any power that he could. Her red eyes glowed paled neon blue as she released her victorious battle cry. Magic popped in the air and things in her cell bent, melted and curled by a spell caster. The guards eyes shot to Loki but he was still restrained. Just as the item had been destroyed, they were fixed. The Giantess fell slack against the wall, this time in complete control of her body, her breathing was erratic as if struggling for air. Loki caught her eye for a moment and could see the panic there.

They shared the same question, the same concern. She had won the battle for tonight, but would it happen again? What would happen next time?

Tonight though, for that one night, they would both revel in her victory. He breathed deep calming breaths, mimicking his many meditation sessions before casting a new spell. This was all he could do for her now. She did not notice, for a guard had grabbed her face. To say he grabbed her face is not fair or entirely accurate. The guard reached forwards and cupped her right cheek in his palm. She jerked away from him, both retreated.

"Are you all right now? It was just a nightmare," he questioned and tried to comfort. She just looked at him, horrified that he had touched her, and held her hovering hand over her burning cheek. How was she to answer that? She had no inkling of what happened other than she had been attacked, on another level entirely. She had not been challenged mentally like that in ages. Mental warfare could literally kill a person. It was a very tricky thing. There were so many risks and more often than not, the rewards were not worth the risks taken to obtain them.

Instead of speaking, she merely nodded and gestured for them to leave her. Two of the guard got up to leave but the third waited for his partner. His partner who had touched her and taken quite the attraction to her. Finally, the forth guard stood with a nod and joined his fellow guards. Her breathing was still off and she was still injured but she had refused them. They would follow Odin's orders of respecting her wishes.

Her scared animalistic eyes followed them out before turning to Loki. He was still setting a very good breathing example. He sat cross legged on the floor with the palms of his hands atop his knees and back ramrod straight. He inhaled deeply, held for a moment, and exhaled. She watched him through a few cycles before mimicking his position and copying his breathing. Slowly her panicked and erratic breathing slowed and calmed. The Two Frost Giant's matched their breathing and unbeknownst to them, their heartbeats.

Sufficiently calmed after minutes of this, the giantess rose to clean herself of her mess and attend to her wounds. She retained her calm breathing however and her eyes took on a peaceful, almost dreamy look to them. Loki broke his position just as she had and returned to lying on his bed. He too kept the soothing pattern up. They listened to each other's breathing and remained tied breath for breath.

That night, the giantess used her bed for the first time and Loki knew that he was not alone in his torture. The fell asleep as the torches ran out of oil to burn but their combined breathing held any panic at bay.

A/N: for the ending of chapter three (the actual chapter three), I had something else written but I tossed it out. I had several different endings written but I chose not to use them. When I finally decided on this ending, I ended it earlier and was debating tacking more on to the end. It doesn't matter now because I can't find my original end point. Please tell me what you all think!

Oh, she does have a name but Loki has to be able to speak in order for her to answer, and she will not speak until Loki does. I have a few more scenes in mind before either will be talking. It might take another chapter or two. Here is where you guys come in, I feel like I am using 'her', 'she', 'the girl', 'the woman', 'giantess', and other such things far too much. I would like something to call her in the mean time but I cannot think of anything.

I could use her name but I do not wish to quite yet. If any of you could help me come up with something to call her, something that will mostly be used to address her in Loki's mind, that would be great and I would so ever grateful!

Thank you again for reading! RxR!


	4. Ch3 Let the Charades Begin

A/N: Order of business.

_1)_ I apologize for not having this (hopefully these Ch3&4) out sooner. I plan on updating once a month with two chapters at once. I was hoping to keep it updating between the first and fifth of the month, it appears that I have to alter that timeline some.

_2)_Thank you to those of you who have added my story to your alerts! **BabydragonXXX, Child of the Night13, Lornaa, and Sharifahsheikh**, thank you so much

This gives me great encouragement and an extra boost of determination when I hit a wall. I have people who are curious to see what happens next. Who am I too keep them waiting?

_3)_ Chapters three and four wrote themselves. I mostly liked how three turned out but four was taking the story in a direction I did not want to go in just yet. I spent some time rewriting them. For now, chapter three is acceptable (hence its being posted) but chapter four is still in the workshop; he's having some plot trouble.

_5)_I will try to have chapter four out as soon as possible for my two chapter per month quota for this story, but if it just doesn't come together there might be a three chapter update in August.

***~*CHAPTER 3*~***

Weeks after The Incident, things had returned to "normal" as if nothing had ever happened. The giantess had returned to her normal sleeping position; the floor. Loki understood the need for normality, mischievous as he may be, he knew better than to rob her of that. He would not remind her of what had happened. He too pretended that nothing had happened. He had not comforted her in the only way he could and he most certainly did _not_ know what she was going through, for she had not gone through anything. Nothing had happened to her that night and nothing had happened to him during his stay..._there_.

Until one of them broke their understood silence on the matter, nothing had happened. If only he had had some normalcy to return to after the first time...

No, nothing had happened. Everything was fine. When the guards asked what had happened as they served breakfast the next morning, both Jotuns acted as if the guards were crazy and had lost their minds. Much of their conversation was body language; the Little Giantess refused to speak and Loki still had the gag. The most he ever said was, 'that will be all, you may leave now,' to which the guards never did, or sneer, 'must you put that abhorred _thing_ back on?' They would, they had to. Until Odin or the Court ordered otherwise, the gag and cuffs had to remain in place.

The guards informed Loki that it was Thor who had Loki removed from Maximum security and into his new cell. When Loki questioned the Little Giantess's situation, how she was moved from light security to heavy security so quickly, they just stared at him.

"You really don't know how long it's been do you?" the guard, who was _far_ too friendly with the female Jotun, asked. He was the most talkative of the four guards and the only one who seemed willing to answer the questions asked as if they deserved an answer.

"Have you ever been held in _maximum_, maximum security? Where one is held in a state of sense deprivation, of course," Loki clarified haughtily for the obtuse guard.

"No, I have not been held there, nor in any prison" he answered.

"Well, Talus, I believe that is your name," Loki did know the guard's name. As a Prince of Asgard, he and Thor both knew the name of every guard in service. That did not mean that they did not forget or confuse their names sometimes, either on accident or on purpose. Loki however, having an eidetic memory, knew the guards name. Talus confirmed that that was his name. As if there was a doubt. "time passes differently there. Trying to count the days while there is pointless, a waste of energy, and extremely tiring. That place is designed to confuse you."

"I thought that you would count your meals or something," the guard shrugged. "You were in there for almost an entire year. Thor was very upset that it took so long. He nearly destroyed part of the southern half of Asgard in a fit of rage. Shortly after that, we were given order to have you moved."

"Yes, that explained how _I_ got here, but I asked how _she_ got here," Loki pushed irritated that his question was not being answered. He pointed to the girl across from him on the off chance that Talus thought there was some other female that Loki would be speaking of. Palace guards were strong and trained for combat but they could be so thick sometimes.

The guard finally sighed and cast a glance towards the Little Giantess, "Do you mind?" He asked when he caught her eye. She did not nod or shake her head but she did smirk, a very delighted, pleased smirk that said, 'go ahead.' The guard turned back to Loki, replacing the gag before answering. "She bit the Allfather's nose."

To this, Loki's eyes grew wide. He looked around the guard to still see the satisfied smirk on her lips before she shrugged and laid down perpendicular to the bed that gad only seen one night's use. Loki smiled behind his gag and his shoulder shook with a barely contained laughter. How ludicrous! Oh, the mental image. How foolish was Odin to get that close to her? The only thing that she had done was bit his nose? The things she could have done instead! The guards gathered the trays and secured the cell doors. Oh, how he wished he could ask for more details.

"The Court demanded her immediate execution," the talkative guard's partner said as he slammed Loki's door shut. This killed Loki's good mood instantaneously, he looked to the Little Giant but she had her back to him resting her head on her arm. "The Allfather insisted that it was his error that had led to the accident, he repealed her death sentence and had her moved here," he locked the door; they were the last two of the guards to leave.

Loki sat in silence, not that he had a choice to otherwise, and pondered this new information. Politically, this could be disastrous. Many people were still loyal and completely faithful to Odin. He was the Allfather all. They loved, respected, and cherished him, his rule, and his protection of Asgard as well his protection of all the nine realms. However, there were a few who were not so loyal. They believed Odin to be a fool and too old to lead. Just as Thor had before his banishment. A situation like this, where Odin openly admitted that it was fault _and_ repealed her death sentence, they could twist that so many different ways. Loki was the Master of tricks, of lies, of mischief; he could see the darker side of this. It could get very bad, very quickly. Everyone had to tread carefully-Odin, Thor, Loki himself, even Jotuness. Politically, a storm was brewing. A few of the pieces had revealed themselves but not very many, not enough to properly prepare for the battle.

Loki jerked as something hit him in the head, bringing him out of his mental planning. The object was sitting in his lap now, he picked it up. It was wood of some sort, and crudely carved by the look of it. There were some rough edges but the image, at the very least the attempt of the image, was clear. It heavily resembled a horse head with the beginnings of the legs and body still trapped in the wood. It was a game piece, a knight. Loki turned to the only person who could have thrown it.

The Little Giant was sitting cross legged instead of lying down but she hadn't moved from her spot. She wore an apprehensive expression. Her burgundy eyes flicked from Loki's face to the piece in his hand. Unsure what she wanted, Loki made to toss it back. She shook her head vigorously, he tossed it anyway, to the far side of her cell. She sighed, crawled over to pick it up, and chunked it back at him with much more force than before. Loki flinched at the piece hit him on the side of his neck. Even though he had raised an arm to block, the piece had still struck him. _'She has an accurate aim,'_ he mused mentally picking up the piece and holding it. She still wore the apprehensive expression.

It took him longer than it should have, Loki would always blame it on her strange eyes and Jotun nature-it was part of him, however it was foreign-but finally Loki saw and recognized that her eyes showed apprehension, excitement, and fear.

Apprehension about the entire situation; excitement for something she had done, her own work; fear of being...rejected, reprimanded, discouraged, the list could go on. She acted as he had when he had a new spell to show Thor or his mother. In that moment, she strongly reminded Loki of a child. A younger version of himself to be precise; minus the blue skin, blue-white hair, and fire-crimson eyes,

He looked at the knight again. It was not impressive on its own, but considering that neither of them possessed nor were allowed any tools to create such a thing, the detail was marvelous. He looked to the Little Giant again and inclined his head while holding the piece upwards. Had she carved the piece?

Jotuness bobbed her head affirmatively. Yes, she had. (What did he think of it?) She cocked her head to the side.

Loki nodded once and returned his attention to inspecting the piece. Even though it wasn't finished yet, he could tell that it would remain balanced. He did not wish to give her too much encouragement, but it was good for their current situation. He nodded a few more times and held onto the tiny piece tightly.

Jotuness was delighted even though she wouldn't show it to him. She picked up something else and threw it at him. Once more, she hit him in the head. He glared at her but she hid her satisfied smirk as she turned to hunt for more of the pieces that she had made. She understood enough of the game to know that there were two teams with the same pieces just under different flags. She made one set of pieces for him to inspect and to criticize. She had never played the game before but she had seen it being played. She did not quite remember all the pieces though, how they looked or how many. Maybe he did, maybe he could help her finish the set.

Loki studied the other piece that she had thrown at him. The second piece was horrible. He, one of the best at the game-assuming it was indeed chess, could not tell what the piece was even supposes to be. It might have been a bishop, but it could also be a pawn. Perhaps it was a queen? It was some strange combination, he dearly hoped that her throwing that piece had been a mistake. Whatever it was, it was unacceptable, an unplayable piece.

He threw it back at her and hit her lower back. She glared at him after she jerked around. He sighed heavily, crossed his arms, and shook his head. That piece was simply no good.

Shocked and slightly offended, she picked up the piece and studied it. It did not look wrong to her. Not that she knew what it was meant to look like. She looked back at him and twisted her head to give him a look out of the side of her eye. What was wrong with it? Why was it unacceptable?

Loki sighed and shook his again. It was wrong, unplayable.

Molten fire eye glared at him as she held the piece tighter to her chest. I got that, it is not acceptable. What is wrong with it? She hurled the piece back at him and motioned to it. Explain, Oh wise mystic. She faked a bow from her kneeling position.

Loki shot her a warning glare which she dismissed with the raise of an eyebrow. He couldn't act on any threat. They were separated by two set of bars and locked doors, not to mention the six foot wide hallway. Even if they managed to stick one leg through the bars the best outcome would be barely being able to touch the other's cell. Jotuness highly doubted that either of them had legs six feet long. He picked up the piece and with a finger clearly outlined the three different pieces.

Jotuness watched as he circled three different parts of her piece. So? They were part of the piece. What was wrong with the round ball having a slit in its head and then a pointed tumor on one side? That was how it was supposed to look.

...Right?...

Loki sighed and slowly put his hand over his eyes. She was not understanding. How could he explain to her that she was wrong? She was headstrong and clearly held an air of 'I'm right.' This was going to be impossible. They had been across from each other for two, possibly three months. They understood certain signals but they had never really tried to converse before. They had given each other space and had very little interaction with each other apart from observation. His hopes of staying away from the Midgarian game of charades to have his questions answered were dimming.

A whistle caught his attention and he looked up. Jotuness was at the bars with her head cocked to the side. She held one finger and waved it back and forth before holding up two fingers. She nodded slightly with apprehension on her face again. Loki started at her. She inhaled and repeated her movements. Loki was staring in shock but he was still staring. Jotuness sighed and turned around stepping towards her bed. Loki jumped up, he miscalculated the gap between himself and the bars and collided with them. The metal of his gag colliding with the bars caught her attention and caused her to turn; she had heard his forehead hit but she could ignore that. The metal for some reason had a strange plea in its ring.

Loki held up two fingers and waved them back and forth. He held up three and nodded.

She turned her head, disbelieving, three? She held up three of her own fingers and stared at them. She cocked a questioning eyebrow at him.

It was Loki's turn to repeat his motions. Yes, three.

Jotuness turned to face him now. She motioned to the piece that he held in other hand. He uncurled his palm to display it. She moved her finger in a "z" motion before circling the piece and holding up one finger. She wagged the one finger and then held up three. Loki nodded, enthusiastic that they were understanding each other. She motioned to the piece again and put both of her hands, in fist together. She motioned with her eyes that her hands were now the piece that he held. Loki nodded once in understanding. She nodded back and took her hands apart but had her fingers splayed so that three groups were clear. She looked at each group with her eyes and then to the piece. The piece that she made should be three different pieces?

Loki not only nodded but pointed at her fingers and raised a fist in victory. She understood, thank goodness. It took some time, more than likely to make sure that they were in fact on the same page, but they had understood each other. Loki sat back down on his bed and debated throwing the piece at her. It was three pieces smashed together but when you took it apart, they were good representations of their true piece. He decided to keep it. Perhaps he could draw the corrected pieces on the unplayable piece. The preferable option would be to draw the pieces on paper and give them to her.

He would continue thinking of ways to communicate, specially to show her how to correctly make the three pieces. Until then, they would be without one pawn, Queen, and bishop. He looked to Jotuness who was looking at a few more pieces that she had found. How had she made them? Loki studied the knight that he still kept long into the early morning. As the light dimmed and the moon rose, Loki saw something on the piece that he hadn't noticed before. There was blood on the horse. He looked to Jotuness again, she was sleeping on the floor again but another incident had not happened since.

Little did Loki know that Jotuness wasn't asleep. She was wide awake, eyes forced open as she focused on her breathing and ever so slowly was whittling away at another chess piece. She had not slept since that first night after the incident.


End file.
